1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure is related to the field of electronic gaming. Particularly to games or other systems wherein a large number of instructions from a large number of discrete input devices can be collated to control the output of a single common display in real-time.
2. Description of the Related Art
Human beings generally enjoy each other's company and often express that enjoyment through the joint participation and experiencing of shared events. Cities are riddled with venues, such as stadiums, where a large crowd of people can join together to share in a common experience be it a musical concert, performance art event, sporting event, religious service, culinary sampling, civic gathering, or other collective event. These events provide humanity with a common denominator and have been around since ancient times. There are huge numbers of well-known historical venues catering to these types of activities including the Coliseum and Globe Theatre.
Originally, to participate in these events, one had to be at the event and in the venue. However, the advent of electronic mass communication, and particularly the progression from radio, television, the Internet, and then Internet capable mobile devices, has made these events more universal and more accessible. Where it used to be that to share in the event one had to be in the venue, with radio and television, one could now witness the event without necessarily being there, but couldn't communicate readily with those at the event. However, the Internet, and more specifically Internet capable mobile devices, has allowed tot those both at and separated from the venue to interact and share, generally in near real time, in the event with friends that are both at the venue and away from it.
This interconnectivity of involvement with events that one is physically spaced from has really only really arisen with the advent of the “smartphone” and related mobile technology which utilizes packet data communication over wireless networks on devices which are transportable wherever a person goes. As opposed to telephony, which were single origin to destination devices, the advent of the Internet, and social networking systems such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Meerkat, Snapchat, and Lockerdome combined with wireless interconnectivity has allowed humanity to communicate our thoughts, feelings, and impressions, in text, photo, or video to friends across the globe near instantaneously and without regards for who, or how many, are on the receiving end of the communication. Thus, we can be corresponding to friends who are at the venue while we watch the event on television from our home and vice-versa. This communication is also much like communication with a person who we are actually physically near at the venue as we are not monopolizing their attention (as can be the case with a telephone call) but can be one of many communications they are switching rapidly between.
While the ability to upload and share events in our lives has led to increasing connectivity between friends and those of even minimal common interest, it has also led to increased isolation. Instead of talking with those we are sitting next to at the ballpark or outdoor concert series, we are staring at device screens and speaking with our thumbs. As some commenters would contend, we have traded in actual human interaction for the virtual, and that has actually led to isolation.
This is emphasized by the fact that in addition to our networking with other humans going virtual, much of our interaction with even live events is going virtual. It has become increasingly common for even those who are at a sporting or similar event, to be simultaneously watching the event live and on a device to obtain additional commentary, perspectives, and content. It is also common to be at an event and see people with good seats, with a good view of the live action, watching it on the large television screens in the venue because that is the image they are more used to seeing and it often still provides more content. Further, a number of recent studies have shown drastic increases in what is sometimes called “dual screening” where a person is actually interacting with two different digital streams (for example a television and a social network feed), in conjunction with the same event, at the same time.
This crossing over where interaction with digital devices is becoming increasingly not just as an activity in and of itself, but part of other activities or as a replacement for what used to be in person interactions is starting to permeate the public consciousness. Increasingly, we are seeing digital devices gather information from us and use it to shape our interactions and understanding of our environment. A person's actions and movements can be used to drive other events. Posting certain items to social media or taking a certain number of steps during the day can generate bonuses in virtual environments. The dividing line between an interaction in person, and an interaction virtually is now becoming blurred.
Even our sporting events are becoming more virtual. Video games, which used to involve a single player competing against an intelligence engine on their machine in what was essentially a preprogrammed puzzle, are increasingly multi-player where individual players are provided with both human opponents and human teammates. Further, there has been increasing interest in spectating such games with Internet based video channels arising that are focused on displaying such games. In many respects, video games have now taken a space that was originally occupied almost exclusively by sporting events and provided a virtual alternative.
Typically, in a single-player game, the player controls the actions of a single game element. This game element is often called an “avatar” and is designed to represent the player in the game world. In some games, the avatar is visible to the player and can be seen in the virtual world (a so called “third-person view” used in games such as Diablo™) while in others the avatar is not shown, but the image the avatar would see, along with certain game control elements such as indication of what is in the person's hands, or the speedometer of a vehicle, are visible (so-called “first-person view” used in games such as Doom™ and many racing games).
Regardless of the type of view used, all the remaining elements in the game are controlled by the video game programming. Generally, this meant they moved in accordance with a variety of preselected algorithms and intelligent engines that were selected based on the difficulty level of competition the user selected. Single player games can be a lot of fan, but can become repetitive. The computer control can be formulaic (for example the fixed pattern that the ghosts in Pac Man™ follow) and players could find was to easily defeat the computer by simply abusing certain elements of the algorithms. Even without specifically finding a loophole in the programming, a player would often get sufficiently good at a game (by simply knowing what to expect) that the computer no longer offers much of a challenge.
The difference between most one player video games and the real-life activities they are simulating is generally two-fold. In the first instance, you are always a team of one in a single player game. Other game elements, including opponents and teammates, are computer controlled and, as such, their behaviors are limited. While the programming could be very good and could provide for a challenging game, these systems lacked the randomness that is often introduced by real world competition. They are more akin to a puzzle than a team sport. A second problem was that the game often lacked consequences. Ultimately, when a player failed to save the world, they simply started over.
To try and deal with the first issues of single player games, games started to provide for multi-player experiences. In these systems, instead of other elements being controlled by algorithms, they are controlled by the actions of another player. The computer system then serves to make sure that the actions of each player in controlling an element are correctly presented to the other player as that element's actions. For example, the position of the element controlled by the first player is visible in the display of the second player (or not) based on where the first player's avatar is located on the virtual playing field. Thus, the behaviors of elements are no longer limited to algorithmic controls and the random elements of human control, as well as actual differences between human skill levels, are introduced to the game.
As much as multi-player video games may have changed from the original hard wired coin-operated arcade machines to the massively multiplayer games (e.g. MMORPGs) on the Internet today, very little about how they are played has changed. In multi-player video games, each player needs to have a display that shows them (via third-person or first-person view) what the avatar (element) they control is doing, what it can see, what it can interact with, and what effect those interactions have. Based on what a player sees on their display, they control the movement and actions of that avatar to interact with the other elements regardless of if they are computer controlled, environmental, or avatars of other players.
Because of the way multi-player games work, the game play often resembles the game play of a traditional sport with each player seeing their individual view of the playing field, which also includes viewing the elements controlled by other players, and taking actions based on what they sec. Also like a team sport, it is possible to spectate or to coach the sport by taking an overall view from an elevated viewing position where the user can take in the whole field. In the video game situation, the field is simply a virtual creation with all the avatars positioned and acting on it.
Much of the reason multi-player games have gotten more common has to do with the increases available in computing power, and particularly network speed. Multi-player games require very fast network connections and fast processors for each of the players. The individual processor for each player has to provide their view of the playing field (and all associated graphic requirements), stored imagery of their avatar for example their appearance and what they may have in their hands), specifics of the character's avatar (for example their current health rating) and other local controls which are part of a single player game. The local processor also has to receive an indication of the actions of the other avatars, and update the display of the local player so that the player can correctly act. Further, the player's actions also need to be sent to the central host quickly so that they can be passed on to the other players so that they can correctly react. All of this also generally has to be performed in real-time and, as should be apparent, requires a substantial amount of communication and processing to carry out.
To deal with processing requirements, these games typically require the individual player to download game software to their system, which will provide for the core of the display controls as well as interpreting a user's actions, and will simply take in from a central server information related to the actions of others so that it can provide an appropriate image for this player of the other player's action. Further, the games only function well when all the players have suitably fast network connections and processors in their machines to make sure that there is little to no lag between them. Thus, multiplayer games often require high powered computers, specifically uploaded with large amounts of software and having a high-speed landline data connection to play multi-player games effectively.
To play the game, a player will commonly startup their local software copy of the game, which loads all the various necessary code into faster memory in their system as well as loading up specifics of their avatar, and then connect with a central server. The central server will get all the initial information from their local machine, and once the server has everything it needs, it will put their avatar in the game. This type of arrangement allows for the player's actions to dominate the network traffic being sent and offload the graphic and display requirements for each player to their individual processors. However, it also means that a substantial amount of setup is required for games to be played. Downloading the core game program and getting it installed and working on an individual machine often takes multiple minutes. Further, even for players that have played repeatedly, getting the system to log them into the game is often a relatively long process requiring the player to wait a noticeable amount of time. Further, if a player has a substantial amount of local network traffic slowing down their connection, they often have to wait longer to get connected and can see gameplay suffer because they are not getting updates fast enough.
What all the above means is that multi-player games are a lot of fun, but also require a lot of setup, they have not been useable for situations where the game needs to be announced and played in a relatively confined period of time.